Various machines have been developed for extracting juice from vegetables and fruit. In some of these machines, such as for example a citrus juicer, it is relatively simple to express the juice from the fruit. In other machines, it is necessary to first grate or pulverize the fruit into a pulp and then to press it with relatively high pressing forces in order to extract the juice. This is typical, for example, when expressing cider from apples. Thus, it has been known in the prior art to provide a juice press with a device for comminuting the fruit. In the past, it has been proposed to develop such juice presses for use in supermarkets. However, no prior art machines have gained widespread commercial acceptance. This has been due primarily to a number of reasons; the principal reasons being in the difficulty in developing a machine which is easy to operate, relatively compact, and portable, and which can be readily cleaned. One prior art machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,087,435 issued June 20, 1937. This patent discloses a hydraulic press which is adapted to force fruit and/or vegetables into the face of a cutter which pulverizes the material into small pieces, which material is subsequently pressed for expressing the juice therefrom. With this form of machine, it is possible that the food which is to be pulverized may be contaminated by hydraulic oils. In addition, the form of machine illustrated is very difficult to disassemble for cleaning purposes.
A related machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,698,613 issued Jan. 8, 1929. In this form of machine an air cylinder is utilized to force a piston 24 into a container of fruit to express juice therefrom. This machine also has the disadvantage in that it is very difficult to clean. Other related prior art is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,068,013; 2,720,161 and 1,539,161. While such machines have been proposed in the past, up until the present time none have received commercial acceptance in the market place.